Change
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- This article is about the meaning of change in terms of flux and variation. For other uses, see Change (disambiguation).
Fundamentally, Change denotes the transition that occurs when something goes from being the same to being different. For example, water in the liquid state is not the same as water in the frozen state. At some point, it experienced a transition and became different. Thus, it changed.
Change, the quality of impermanence and the flux, has had a chequered history as a concept. In ancient Greek philosophy, while Heraclitus saw change as ever-present and all-encompassing, Parmenides virtually denied its existence. Clearly, one's philosophical position has a crucial influence on what one has to say about change.
Ovid produced a classic thematic handling of change as metamorphosis in his Metamorphoses.
Ptolemaic astronomy envisioned a largely static universe, with erratic change confined to less worthy spheres.
Medieval thought fostered great respect for authority and revelation, severely cramping any encouragement of change.
Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz harnessed mathematical concepts into calculus to provide mathematical models of change. This constituted a major step forward in understanding flux and variation. In modern physics, the concept of change is associated with action.
With the rise of industrialisation and capitalism, the importance attached to innovation grew, and social and political upheavals and pressures often forced change by violent revolution (as in North America in the late 18th century and in later imitators). By the late 20th century much business and New Age thought focussed enthusiastically on transformation in management, in function and in mental attitudes, while ignoring or deploring changes in society or in geopolitics. Madison Avenue receives payment to repeat the litany of the fad for change: In the fast-changing world of today, you need ... product X.
Cultural attitudes to change itself may fall into one of at least two categories:
- Change is random, lacking determinism or teleology.
- Change is cyclical, and one expects circumstances to recur. This concept, often seen as related to Eastern world views such as Hinduism or Buddhism, nevertheless had great popularity in Europe in the Middle ages, and often appears in depictions of The Wheel of Fortune.
Change may require organisms and organizations to adapt (see also evolution).
Changes in society may take place either slowly through gradual modifications in mindsets and beliefs or suddenly through revolutions. Societies continuously acquire predictive knowledge to avoid the impact of catastrophic changes. Research is one of the tools for anticipating impending changes and adapting to the new inevitable conditions. Changes in constitutions and laws could be done to bring about changes gradually. Societies, which do not follow this path have changes thrust upon them by forces beyond their control.